Robert Chesebrough was a chemist and the inventor of petroleum jelly, trade-named Vaseline. In 1875 he founded the Chesebrough Manufacturing Company. The name was changed in 1955 to Chesebrough-Ponds, (a manufacturer of personal care products). He patented the process of making petroleum jelly (U.S. Patent 127,568) in 1872. Born in London, England, Chesebrough began his career as a chemist clarifying kerosene from the oil of sperm whales. The discovery of petroleum in Titusville, Pennsylvania made his job obsolete, so he traveled to Titusville to research possibilities as to what could be created from the new fuel and have commercial potential. Chesebrough took the unrefined black "rod wax", as the drillers called it, back to his laboratory to refine it and explore potential uses. Chesebrough discovered that by distilling the lighter, thinner oil products from the rod wax, he could create a light-colored gel. Chesebrough patented the process of making petroleum jelly by U.S. Patent No. 127,568 in 1872. The process involved vacuum distillation of the crude material followed by filtration of the still residue through bone char..The raw material for petroleum jelly was discovered in 1859 in Titusville, on some of the country's first oil rigs. Workers disliked the paraffin-like material forming on rigs because it caused them to malfunction, but they used it on cuts and burns because it hastened healing.Chesebrough's success came from his belief in Vaseline. Before Chesebrough began selling it, he tested it on his own cuts and burns. Having demonstrated the product's effectiveness on himself, Chesebrough was still unable to sell Vaseine to drug stores until he traveled around New York, demonstrating his miraculous product. (See photo above) In front of audiences, he would burn himself with acid or an open flame, then spread Vaseline on his burn injuries while showing his past injuries, healed, by Vaseline. To create a demand, he gave out free samples.

Chesebrough opened his first factory in 1870. The first known reference to the name Vaseline is in his U.S. patent: “I, Robert Chesebrough, have invented a new and useful product from petroleum which I have named 'Vaseline…'" . The etymology of the word is believed to come from German wasser (water) + Greek έλαιον (oil).

During a bout of pleurisy in his mid-50s, Chesebrough instructed his nurse to rub him from head to toe with Vaseline. He attributed the use of Vaseline to his recovery. Robert Chesebrough lived to be 96 years old. He was such a believer in Vaseline that he claimed to have eaten a spoonful of it every day. ** FOR MORE ON THIS TOPIC, visit wikipedia.com After my online research of Vaseline's inventor, Robert Chesebrough, I will lovingly think of him as," Sideshow Bob and his Traveling Show"!

Quirky Bob traveled around New York State, demonstrating his " miraculous" product. In front of audiences, he would burn himself with acid or an open flame, then spread Vaseline on his burn injuries while showing his past injuries, healed, by Vaseline.